Caster raising and lowering device.



o.. .1.9111151313 L B. SALVAGE.

GASTER RAISING AND LOWEBING DEVICE,

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 17. 1912.

Patented 11811.23, 1915.

0. A. SKIBBB & B. SALVAGE.

GASTER RASING AND LOWERING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 17, 1912.

LMQSAQQ., v Patented P91123, 1915 l 2 s'HBBTs-SHEBT 2.

'disturbing the machine Aor base embodying our invention.

OTTO A. SKIBBE AND BERT' SALVAGE, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS TOWILLIAM It. MANIERRE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. 'y

CASTER RAISING AND LOWE-RING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters atent. ,l Patented Fel). 23, I9I5.

Application tiled time 17, 1912. Serial No. 704,059.

T0 allai/10m 'it may' concern i Be it knoivn that we, OTTQ A. SKIBBE andBaur Sinn-ien, citizens of the United States, and residing in Chicago,in the countyof Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Caster Raising and Lowering Means, of whichthe following is a specification.

Our inventin relates to lattachments for supporting tables, machinebases and the like, and has more particular reference to portable ormovable apparatus of this character.

The primary object of our invention is to provide an improved.structureof this character, which will be simple, durable and reliable inconstruction, and effective and eilicient in operation.

Agfurther object of our invention is t provide an improved attachmentfor a base' or stand, more especially but not necessaril adapted forcalculating machines and theA like, whereby the base or stand may beused as a stationary structure but which maybe quickly and convenientlyconverted into a; portable structure capa-ble of being readily shiftedabout from place to place without or apparatus supported thereby.

A further object of our invention is .to provide improved mechanismwhich Will restrict theI movenicntof the base or stand to a definitepath of travel or allow it to be shifted about indiscriminately.

The above and other new and useful objects hereinafter appearing areaccomplished by, and our invention consists in tire features of noveltyin the construction, combination and arrangement of parts lhereindescribed and shown in the accompanying drawings, which illustrate oneembodiment of our invention, and moreparticularly set forth in theappended claim.

In the drawings: Figure l is ayiew in side elevation of an adding`machine stand Fig. 2 is a sectional view thereof on the line Q-Q ofFig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail plan section on line 3,-3 of Fig.l. `Fig 4 is a bottom plan View of one of the supporting casters orrollers illustrating the means for locking them in definite position..

Office machinery such as calculating hdd,

stands with rollers, casters, Wheels or other suitable supportingmembers which will enable the stands and their machines to 'beconveniently moved or shifted about With the least physical exertion.The use'of castters or such supporting members has been found to beagreat source of annoyance and inconvenience to this extent; theoperation of the machinesby their usual operating levers tends to shiftthe machine stand around to -varying positions, making the work of theoperator difficult and tiresome and considerable time is lost 1nreturning the machine and stand to its proper position.

Our inventionis 'intended to o vercome these objections in a, simple andefficient, yet satisfactory manner.

IVe have illustrated our invention as being embodied in a supportingstand or base A of a type which is intended more particularly-for usewith adding and calculating machines and the like, and while ourinvention is not restricted or limited to a stand structure of thiskind, vve have illustrated the' invention in conneetionivith this standfor the'sake of clearness and in order that an" understanding can bereadily obtained of our "invention The stand illustrated is generallyrectangularinshape and is built upof. a number of tubular memberssuitably fastened together to form a rigid structure. This stand has avvertical member A1 at each corner and these'verticals are connected byupper and loiver horizontals or cross bars ido' A2 and A3 respectively`in such manner as to `form a rigid or solidly braced structure.

The lower front horizontal or cross brace A4 extends from side to sideof the stand and is set back from the front of the frame, as clearlyshown in Figs. l uand, 2, `for the purpose of providing room for theoperators feet when the operator is manipulating the machine from asitting position.

Thelower ends A5 of the verticals form legs or supports therefor, andconstitute the rpoints of contact with the floor upon which the standrests. These supporting points 5 are preferably made in Such form, forinstance as shown in the drawings, that when j l the stand rests uponthe Hoor, it 'cannot be easily moved, and to increase the frictional 1.oends of the legs may be provided with some sort of non-sliding orfrictional devices, if desired. ln apparatus of this character it isextremely desirable that the stand be capable of being shifted about theoiice for various obvious reasons but the weight of the maj chine andthe stand prohibits the apparatus from being lifted or carried by theoperator from place vto place, and to drag the stand along the floorwould scratch or mar the contact thereof `with the`fioor, the lower 2ofloor or tear the carpet, as the case may be.-

Stands of this character have usually been f provided with permanentcasters or rollers on their legs to permit them being readily movedabout, but the use of these"` permanent attachments destroys thestability of the stand since the effort required to operate the machinesis usually sufficient to mo\'e the stand and the work of the operator isrendered extremely tiresome and diilicult. l, Our invention enables thestand to be usel either as a permanently fixed structure or as aportable structure, as desired, and we provide mechanism whereby theweight of the machine and stand may be quickly and 35, convenientlyshifted or transferred either to supporting rollers or casters or toitspermanent supports, as desired.

In the structure shown in the drawing, we have providedeaeh leg orvertical, near 40 its lower end or point of contact A5, with a lever 1.These levers are pivoted near the lower ends A5 of the verticals A1 andeach lever consists of a short and a long arm 2 and 3, respectively, andin order to provide a., convenient method of pivoting these levers uponthe legs A1" of the stand, we rigidly join the two arms 2 and 3 of eachlever by means of a loop 4 of metal, preferably formed integral with thelever arms. These loops, as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2 and.3, embracethe legs A1 of the stand and pivot bolts 5 are passed through the loopsand legs (F ig. 3). The short arms 2 of the levers project preferablyhorizontally from the legs and on their outer ends are provided withswiveled casters or roller members 6 of any suitable type best adaptedto the particular requirements.4 The arms 3 of these levers oncorresponding sides of the frame rise a-ngularly upward for a shortdistance and project horizontally toward each other. `heir correspondinginner ends 7 are pivotally connected together, preferably by means of aslotted connection 8 (Figs. 1 and 2) so that the levers may be tilted orl of the legs A1.

2 thereby transferring or shifting the weight of the machine and tableto the rollers or casters 6. The stand may then be run around the oliiceto any place desired, and when that place is reached, the reverseoperation of the levers will return the stand to vits normal restingposition with the lower ends A5 of the legs upon the floor, or in otherwords, the weight of the machine and stand may be rctransferred to thelower ends ln order that this mechanism may be conveniently operated inunison we pivot a bail member 10 'on two lower side bars A3 adjacent toand extending from side to side of the frame parallel with the lowercross bar A4 as clearly7 seen in Figs. 1 and Q. From this bail. adjacenteach side of the frame, we extend the vertical links e 11 to the pivotalpoints of connection bctween corresponding arms 3 of the levers 1. Theselinks'11 are pivot-ally connected both to the bail member 10 and to theends 7 of the lever arms 3, so that in elect a toggle is formed at eachside of the stand, the knuckle or knee of which is formed by the pivotalconnection between the arms 3 of the levers 1. Hence, it will be seenthat by rotating thebail 10 about its pivotal points 12, thc toggles maybe operated through the medium of the links 11, thus swinging thc levers1 about their pivotal points and rela.- tiwely raising or lowering thestand and casters, as the case may be. In order that the bail may beconveniently operated by hand, we provide a rigid arm or lever '14thereon adjacent one side of the stand. This lever 14 has a horizontallyturned end 141 which rests upon the side bar A3, as clearly shown inFig. 1, and which forms a convenient operating handle. lt is dcsirable,when the weight of the stand has been transferred to the casters. tolock thc mcchanism in such position. ln order to accomplish this in asimple and effective manner, we so proportion the operating parts thatthe pivotal points 111 of the links 11 will be carried slightly past thecenter lines X drawn between the pivotal points 12 of the bail and thepivotal points S of the operating levers 1, as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

'llius, when the bail is rotated to elevate the stand and tra nsfer theweight thereof to the casters, the turned end 111 of the arm 14.

incense will allow the pivotal points 111 of the linlrs` y a powerfulsystem of multiplying levers which. enable the machine stand and machinethereon, even though of comparatively i f great weight, to be raised orlowered as 'the casegfmay be by a slight amount of manual effort exertedon the operating arm 14.

As previously mentioned we prefer to use swiveled castersG, so' that themachine may be indiscriminately moved about and readily turned asdesired. It is voftentimes desirable, however, tp move or transport thestand along a definite line of travel, say, in

` a straight line, and in order that this may be accomplished in asimple manner, we.

providemeans by which the swiveling action of the casters may berestricted or blocked.

Referring more particularly to Figs. '1, 3V

and 4, it will'be seen that the outer ends of the arms 2 of the levers 1maybe provided with small substantially 'L-shaped members 15. Theselocking members 15 are preferably pivoted to the ends of the levers 2and provided with some means, such 'as a frictional washer 151, forfrictionally holding the members 15 in any position to which they mayberotated. Thus, they may be swung down or rotated into a position so thatthe bend I152 in said members will engage the caster supports or yokes61 and prevent or lock the casters against swivel- 'ing.` Theselockingmembers', however,l do

'not interfere with the free running of the` casters themselves butmerely prevent the castcr. yokes' frbm turning on the ends of the arms 2of the operatinglevers. In this manner the frame may be caused to follow-a definite straight line of travel. The hori- "'zontallyextendingportions 153 of the lockf ying members serve the purpose of formingmeans by which the locking members may be conveniently actuated by thefeet.A We usually provide short stop lugs 16 on the locking member whichare intended to stop e the rotationof the locking members in theirlproper locking position, as clearly shown in It will be obvious to foneskilled in the art, after having obtained an understanding of ourinvention from t e disclosures herein made, that our invention may bereadily applied t0 or embodied in any suitable stand or structurewherein these requirements and conditions are to be met, all'withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. lVe do not desireto be understood, therefore, as being limited or restrict ed to theparticular structure shown in thel drawing.

What we claim is In a stand, the combination of a plurality of legsnormally resting on the Hoor; a lever pivoted to each leg and having ashort arm and a long arm, the short arms of two of the levers being inalining relation with each other, and in parallel relations `with theshort arms of the other levers, f' the long arms of the levers at one.end of the stand being off-set toward the long arms of the levers atthc other end of the stand, and the.

long arms of each of thelevers being off-set upwardly; a caster at the'free end of each of the short arms of the levers; a manually operablelever pivotally mounted on Vthe stand; and connecting links connectingthe free ends of the long arms of the levers with said manually operablelever, the latter when in one of its positions being adapted to causethe casters to support the stand.

In testimony whereof welhave signed our nameslto this specification, inthe presence of two 4eubs.cribing witnesses, on this 15th day of June A.D. 1912.

` OTTO A. SKIBBE.

BERT SALVAGE. Witnesses: f

CHARLESy H. SEEM, EDGAR FRANCIS BEAUBIEN.

